Nato soldier, four Afghans killed in blasts

KANDAHAR (AFP) - A NATO soldier and four civilians were killed in separate homemade bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, officials and the military alliance said. The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said only that one of its troops was killed by an improvised explosive device in the volatile region, which has seen the fiercest fighting in the eight-year war with the Taliban. Earlier, officials in Helmand province said a homemade bomb tore through a bus carrying a mine clearance team as they travelled along a dirt road near Daman district, killing four and injuring more than a dozen others. The deminers were travelling in a minibus. There was a remote-controlled bomb on the road. They struck the bomb, Daman district governor Sarajuddin Khan told AFP. He could not give a toll for the casualties but local public health official Mohammad Ibrahim said four people were killed and 14 others were wounded.